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SES Water Customer Scrutiny Panel (CSP) Thursday 31 October 2019 Boardroom, Redhill - 10:00Am

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SES Water Customer Scrutiny Panel (CSP) Thursday 31 October 2019 Boardroom, Redhill - 10:00Am SES Water Customer Scrutiny Panel (CSP) Thursday 31 October 2019 Boardroom, Redhill - 10:00am Present: Graham Hanson* (Chair) (GH) Helen Moulsley*, Independent (HM) Simon Bland*, Reigate and Banstead Borough Council (Deputy Chair) (SB) Chris Hoskins*, Nutfield Conservation Society (CH) Jon Sellars*, Environment Agency (JS) Karen Gibbs* Consumer Council for Water (KG) Bella Davies* - South East Rivers Trust (BD) Jaime Ali*, Independent (JA) Anthony Ferrar – SES Water Managing Director (AF) Paul Kerr – SES Water Finance and Regulation Director (PK) Tom Kelly – SES Water Wholesale Director (TK) Dan Lamb – SES Water Head of Retail Services (DL) Van Dang – SES Water Economic Regulation Manager (VD) Cat Holland – SES Water Head of Communications & minute taker (CaH) Meyrick Gough - Meyrick Gough, Technical Planning Director at WRSE (MG) Apologies: Martin Hurst*, Independent (MH) Deborah Jones* - Citizens Advice Mole Valley (DJ) Tom Perry* - Environment Agency (TP) Alison Thompson*, Consumer Council for Water (AT) *Denotes CSP member The CSP held a private session before the main session of the meeting. The CSP Chair’s summary of key areas of focus and action following the meeting are as follows: • Performance: The CSP noted that the Company has again met most of its performance commitments in Q2, but that there were a number of measures that still required ongoing focus, as identified in these minutes. The CSP also noted, and discussed with SES Water management, Ofwat’s Service Delivery Report 2018/19 in which the Company was classed as a ‘middle performer’ in the industry, with scope therefore for further improvement. The CSP also noted the further trend of improvement in complaints management, and that the majority of complaints received so far this year have been related to a significant road closure to carry out essential mains repair works and issues with the online billing system which have now been resolved • Customer Transformation programme: The CSP noted the positive feedback from SES Water on the progress and expectations of the programme, including work underway to implement a new billing and Customer Relationship Management system within the next year. The CSP also gave positive feedback on the update provided on the Voice of the Customer plans so far, and will look forward to a full update on the planned programme at the January meeting • PR19 progress: The meeting again included a helpful update on the Company’s response to Ofwat’s draft determination. The CSP Chair explained that he had attended the Ofwat representation meeting with SES Water management, and that the CSP will be interested in understanding the customer impact of the final determination at the CSP meeting in January, and the various options the Company will be exploring • Water resources: the CSP was grateful for the interesting update on the Water Resources South East (WRSE) activity, and the initiatives to seek to work more closely together to manage scarce water resources. Specifically, from the SES Water perspective, the CSP was concerned to hear that groundwater levels remain below average, despite the recent rainfall, and that there is a potential risk of a temporary usage ban (TUB) next year (see post-meeting update in Any other business section below). Chairman’s welcome The apologies for absence were noted. There were no new interests registered at the meeting. The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed with no amendments or additions requested. Matters arising: • GH submitted the CSP’s letter in support of the Company’s draft determination response to Ofwat. GH attended the CCG Chairs meeting on 12 September which took place ahead of the company representation meetings with Ofwat. A key theme of discussion around the draft determinations was the balance of customer bill reductions versus investment for the longer term. GH attended SES Water’s representation meeting with Ofwat on 25 September where he gave the CSP’s views on the Company’s response to the draft determination. GH attended a Water Resources South East (WRSE) stakeholder event on 27 September – ‘Delivering resilient water supplies for the south east’. The workshop set out WRSE’s ambition to produce a multi-sector regional resilience plan for the south east. This is intended to go beyond just public water supplies, considering the water needs and challenges of other sectors with people, the environment and growth at its centre. Performance update – figures for Q2 2019/20 AF summarised the Company’s performance for the second quarter of the year. The following key areas were discussed: • The Company has achieved 99.94% compliance with the Drinking Water Inspectorate’s definitions for overall water quality, which is below our target of 99.95%. While disappointing, this result reflects five sample failures at customers’ taps, rather than any issues with the quality of water leaving our treatment works or within our own mains network. However, we will still incur a financial penalty from Ofwat of circa £140,000 based on our annual performance for the 2019 calendar year • At the start of the current five-year regulatory period the Company set itself particularly challenging annual targets to minimise the number of customers making contact about the taste, smell or appearance of their water. At the end of September, performance was within the maximum target limit and therefore forecast to meet this stretching target for the first time in this current 2015-2020 Asset Management Plan (AMP). SES Water continues to lead the industry in this area with regard to the low levels of contact relative to industry average • Since 2015, 32,000 water meters have been fitted so the AMP target has been met although performance on both per capita consumption (PCC) and meter switching is behind target • One pollution incident, reported to the Environment Agency in July and linked to a burst main, has been classed as significant due to the volume of water travelling through the surface water drainage system so is currently being investigated. BD asked if there had been any public concern about the incident and TK responded that he did not believe so but would confirm separately (following the meeting it was confirmed that the incident is likely to have been called in by a member of the public but the Company is not sighted on the level of any public concern beyond this while the investigation is ongoing). • Bad debt is forecast to finish adverse to target at 1.7%. A review of underlying methodology is ongoing and being discussed with the Audit Committee • The second quarter C-MeX results are expected in the second week of November • Although complaint levels are now at a four-year low of just 4.67 per 1,000 properties per annum, and therefore heading in the right direction, the Company is not forecasting to meet the stretching target of 6.60 per 1,000 properties for the year to March 2020. The main reasons for not hitting the target relate to a significant road closure to carry out essential mains repair works and issues with the online billing system which have now been resolved CH commented that the Company is being penalised for water quality performance despite this being due to customer pipework. AF responded that the Company has to accept this and will offer advice to customers in these instances, such as the assistance provided to replace lead pipes. AF added that the DWI’s measure is being replaced next year with the Compliance Risk Index. BD asked if the Company carries out further random sampling in the rest of the properties in a street when an issue is detected and TK responded that he will check and respond separately (following the meeting it was confirmed that it is usual practice for the Company to conduct both upstream and downstream sampling at adjacent customer properties following a failed sample. This is common practice across the sector and happened in this case with no additional failures being recorded.) JS stated that the EA believes the Company’s PCC is higher than the figure given due to a differing calculation over the last two years. TK said that he was not aware of this issue but would investigate and respond separately (following the meeting it was confirmed that this is a data interpretation issue and does not change the reported PCC over the last two years. This issue has been recently resolved and concluded at the Company’s quarterly meeting with the EA on 18 November.) There was a discussion about the use of Net Promoter Score (NPS) as a measure of customer satisfaction, including the limitations which includes customers not being willing to promote a service that they have no choice over receiving and cannot switch suppliers. DL added that some companies have made representations over the use of the NPS in Ofwat’s C-MeX methodology. Ofwat’s Service Delivery Report 2018/19 was discussed, with SES Water being classed as a ‘middle performer’ in the industry. GH asked what actions the Company is taking in relation to the report and AF responded that there were no surprises and the Company was already working to ensure strong performance during the final year of the AMP. PK added that the significant burst in Merstham in May 2018, which directly led to the supply interruptions target being missed, also impacted on other measures in the report, such as financial incentives. CaH confirmed that the Company had not been included in any of the media coverage about Ofwat’s report. PR19 Business Plan PK summarised Ofwat’s draft determination of the Company’s business plan, including the key activities that have taken place since the representation was submitted on 30 August. A number of queries have been received from Ofwat which have been responded to through the formal process.
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